I learn I can take the second bend of the racetrack flat out, banking the bike over as I sweep round then opening the throttle full for the long straight that follows, slowing only for the sharp double hairpin at the end.

When the race hit the hills, though, those roads - full of hairpin turns like they were - really strung the peloton out up and down the climbs.

This sharp, right-hand hairpin, which poses a difficult braking manoeuvre as you swing round 180-degrees is taken at 48 km/h in first gear.